Metal News for May 9, 2008

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News Archive

31 news articles posted on this day.

Final Redemption has announced that they are going on hiatus, as their guitarist has sustained serious injuries. Here's the announcement, which was titled "On Hiatus":

"As most of you already know, our guitarist Jamie has sustained extensive trauma to his right arm, and will be unable to play guitar for the forseeable future. We hope to one day release the EP which is nearly 100% written. This all depends on how fast he recovers (the doctor's say about a year and a half). Thank's for everyones continued support."

Godhead has signed with Driven Music Group for the release of their new album. The release is currently being mixed and is due out later this year.

In other label news, Driven Music Group will release 40 Below Summer's "Side Show Freaks" on July 15, 2008. The album has been re-mastered and will be available at retail stores for the first time ever.

Artisan News Service caught up with Welsh Metal core band, Bullet for My Valentine to get their thoughts on being kicked off Rob Zombie's tour. Bullet for My Valentine, whose latest album, "Scream Aim Fire" debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 chart, were so unhappy on a United States tour opening for Rob Zombie that lead vocalist Matt Tuck posted comments on the bands message board about how they were being treated and why they felt disrespected. During the tour Tuck posted these comments about being an opening act.

"As for the merchandise, ZOMBIE makes us price match him so, yup, it's f**kin $40 for a t-shirt, which is insane, I know. Greedy money-grabbing fucks. We're only allowed two pieces of merch, too, which sucks ass. Unfortunately, being first on on a tour like this sucks, but it's gotta be done. As I write this, I'm sitting on the f**kin' floor of the venue 'coz we don't have a dressing room again, 'coz f**kin Zombie takes them all for him, his band and crew. Basically, we are s**t to him."

Once Rob Zombie's camp got wind of the posting the band was immediately kicked off the tour for expressing their views and opinions and standing up for their beliefs.

Artisan News caught up with the band to get their thoughts on the spat with Zombie and why the band still wants to thank him.

"Well we stand for what we...we stand up for ourselves really and I guess he didn't like what we said. Whatever. It don't bother us. We got dropped from the tour but we joined the Guns N Roses tour, so it kind of worked out well for us you know. Yeah, kind of. Cheers Rob!"

So does lead vocalist and guitarist Matt Tuck feel any ill will about the Zombie situation looking back at it in hindsight?

"No, I sleep soundly each night."

Bullet for My Valentine regrettably had to drop off the final five dates on the Taste of Chaos tour, with Atreyu and Avenged Sevenfold as bassist Jay James rushed back to the UK to be with his 2-year old daughter who had been hospitalized. Bullet's Matt, Padge and Moose played two abbreviated shows (San Jose/April 12 and Sacramento/April 13) with their guitar tech, Kevin Papworth, sitting in for Jay on bass, but the band was not comfortable with not being the best they can be. The band also asks that you keep Jay's daughter and her speedy recovery in your thoughts. Bullet for My Valentine will also be performing at Rock am Ring and Rock im Park and the Download Festival in June 2008 in Europe. The bands new single "Waking The Demon" hit U.S. radio airways April 7.

Blabbermouth.net reports via The Pulse of Radio that the tension in MÖTLEY CRÜE seems to have settled down as the band readies a new album. Things started heating up last year after drummer Tommy Lee quit the group because their ex-manager, Carl Stubner, demanded more money to work with him. The band subsequently sued the manager, claiming he tried to "divert revenue" from the group and promote Lee's activities while at the same time mismanaging Lee's own solo career "so as to harm the MÖTLEY CRÜE band and Lee's reputation."

Since then, they put the drama behind them and started work on a new album. Bassist Nikki Sixx tells The Pulse of Radio what went down with the ex-manager and Lee. "Everything's cool," he said. "A guy named Carl Stubner who works for Sanctuary Records did some bad stuff. He was held accountable. He's Tommy's personal manager, and Tommy was hurt about that. But the bottom line is MÖTLEY CRÜE comes first. We're a gang — not this guy who did bad stuff to MÖTLEY CRÜE. So he was sued. He settled, and I think Tommy woke up and saw the light."

MÖTLEY CRÜE's new song, called "Saints of Los Angeles", is expected to appear on the band's upcoming ninth studio album, which is due late June. The disc will be the first to feature the original CRÜE lineup in over a decade.

Swedish death metal band Sanctification had previously reported that all nine songs for their upcoming album were completed in late March. The band has issued a statement on their MySpace page that they will be entering the Abyss studio on July 7th to record the songs. Genre veterans Peter Tägtgren and Dan Swano will be handling the mixing and mastering, respectively. The band has not yet announced an official release date or the title of the new album.

Due to schedule constraints because of touring with Dimmu Borgir, drummer Tony Laureano will not be involved with the recording. He will be replaced with Nils Fjellström of Dark Funeral.

The Progessive Nation Tour’s headlining acts are a match made in heaven for prog fans. Combining Opeth and Dream Theater on the same bill is something that should have happened a long time ago, and sweetening the pot with prog newcomers Three and the more experimental Between the Buried and Me created a perfect storm of progressive metal. To further set this tour apart from similar acts the bands chose to use almost entirely fully seated venues instead of the typical standing setup. More...

Testament has debuted at number 59 on the Billboard Top 200, moving 11,556 units of their latest album, "The Formation of Damnation," while only 13,000 shipped. This debut marks Testament's highest first week sound scan numbers in the band's 24-year history.

Testament frontman Chuck Billy commented, "It's nice to see heavy metal make a statement in such a pop climate."

"We are just stoked to have the record out finally, thanks to all the fans who went out pick it up so eagerly, and if you haven't yet, off you go," commented Eric Peterson.

Alex Skolnick also commented, "While chart positions are not our priority we are nonetheless thrilled and would like to thank everyone who is supporting Testament in 2008. Cheers!"

Here are Testament's "The Formation Of Damnation" debut chart positions:

Due to illness, Clutch was forced to perform the last 9 out of 10 shows of their last tour as the Bakerton Group, which is their instrumental alter ego.

In other news, the band just celebrated the 10 year anniversary of their third album, "The Elephant Riders," on April 14th. In celebration, they have posted six songs from that album on their MySpace page.

As previously reported, Clutch recently announced their decision to form their own record label, Weathermaker Music, on which they plan to release all future Clutch and Bakerton Group releases. The first release is expected in late summer 2008 - their first live DVD and a live CD - both planned to be released the same day.

As The Kingdom Falls guitarist Colin has announced his departure from the band. Here is his announcement:

"Hey guys this should answer all your questions regarding why I am leaving the band. First off nothing happened no fights, disagreements etc.. I am leaving out of my own will because I think it is whats best for ATKF and I. I just have a few things in my life I need to get straightened out before I make a commitment like I would need to continue playing music with ATKF. So I encourage you guys to keep coming out to support these BAMFs at shows everywhere and look out for them on tour. I can say it was a great experience being able to write music and play music with these guys and I will remember it forever."

As previously reported, As The Kingdom Falls plans to recording an EP or full length in July with Eric Shulman and Cole Martinez at Emery Studios in Novelty, Ohio. The band is also planning to do some extensive touring this summer, but has asked for help scraping up the money to buy a new van and trailer to enable this to happen. Contact the band on their MySpace page for more details on how you can donate or help.

I Am The Ocean has announced the addition of singer Dreu Damian (of Her Candane) to their line-up. The group has issued the following:

"We're very happy to announce an excellent addition to I Am The Ocean... Dreu Damian Hudson of Her Candane will be taking over as vocalist! We'll have a brand new track with Dreu up in the coming week. Her Candane have been hard at work writing their follow up to 2006's 'No Battle' so no worries HerC fans, just come see what yer boy can do with us.

"We're excited to be back in full swing and have exciting plans for the rest of the year. We leave tonight for the 'Now With Vocals Tour' so if we're comin your way come out and party with us. We'll have more tours throught the year and plan to be pushing out to the east coast. Also we're gearing up for the follow up to 'and your city needs swallowint.' We have about half of the new record written and hope to hit the studio late 2008. Keep in touch for more updates."

Death metal legends DEICIDE have made their entire brand new album, “Till Death Do Us Part,” available for streaming on the band's MySpace page.

“Till Death Do Us Part” is available as a special edition CD with a free "Glen For President" woven patch while stocks last. The album is also available as standard CD, limited edition 12" picture disc LP and limited edition 12" colour vinyl LP.

The tracklisting for “Till Death Do Us Part” is as follows:

1. The Beginning of the End2. Till Death Do Us Part3. Hate of All Hatreds4. In the Eyes of God5. Worthless Misery6. Severed Ties7. Not As Long As We Both Shall Live8. Angel of Agony9. Horror in the Halls of Stone10. The End of the Beginning

Ohio progressive metallers, From a Second Story Window, unveils, “Self-Admitted” as the second track off its upcoming, May 27 release, “Conversations.” “Self-Admitted” can be heard on the Black Market Activities MySpace page.

The first track, which was released last month, “Leaving the Earth,” was posted on the From a Second Story Window MySpace page.

Vocalist Will Jackson comments on the meaning of the songs on the “Conversations:”

“The truest want of this record is to address—through these characters and a creatively controlled-chaos of musical sound—the many issues each of us face on a daily basis: war, disease, poverty, greed, the posterity of the human species, etc.”

Swedish melodic death metal band Opeth just finished playing with Arch Enemy in the UK on the Metal Defenders of the Faith Tour and are currently touring the US alongside Dream Theater for the Progressive Nation Tour. Opeth has recently gone through several major line-up changes, switching out their drummer, adding on a full time keyboard player, and losing sixteen year member Peter Lindgren. Their upcoming album "Watershed" will be released in the US in early June. I sat down with front man Mikael Akerfeldt in their swanky tour bus on the Seattle stop of the Progressive Nation Tour and we talked about how he started in music and what’s currently going on with Opeth. More...

A limited edition Japanese import of the first three classic Opeth albums packaged together for the first time in a beautiful Japanese digi box set, entitled "The Candlelight Years," will be released on June 26, 2008. You can view the package's contents here.

The tracklisting for Opeth's "The Candlelight Years" Box Set is as follows:

ORCHID1. In Mist She Was Standing2. Under the Weeping Moon3. Silhouette4. Forest of October5. The Twilight Is My Robe6. Requiem7. The Apostle in Triumph8. Into The Frost of Winter More...

Scars On Broadway, which features System Of A Downs guitarist/ vocalist Daron Malakian and drummer John Dolmayan, has reportedly signed a deal with Interscope records to release their debut album, also called Scars On Broadway. The album is set for release on July 29th.

Polish death metal band SOTHOTH has just entered the studio to record their second full-length album. The recording is taking place in DBX Studio in Warsaw with Jacek Melnicki as a producer. The band has revealed that the new material consists of nine songs of extreme, modern death metal that confirm a new level of the band's skill. More news and studio video reports will bew posted on the band's MySpace in the near future.

Underground metal legends Exhorder have confirmed that this year will see the return of the band and to make things even better, they'll be working on new music. The lineup for the reunion is as follows:

Former Stratovarius frontman Timo Tolkki has posted a lengthy response regarding the statement made by his former bandmates on his Myspace:

"Just wanted to let you know, that I will be away for a while. I need to get away from this negative and hate-filled atmosphere of the last days.

"The statement of [Tolkki's former STRATOVARIUS bandmates] Jens [Johansson, keyboards] & co hurt me deeply with its aggressiveness and hate, not to mention the lies they wrote to make it look like totally my fault. I have been very down the last days, so I need some time alone.

"I still cannot believe that it is not possible to go separate ways in a civilized way. My statement was in my opinion like this. From their statement, all I get is this enormous hate and bitterness towards me plus that they made it public, even including figures there. Being accused of being greedy narcisstic Faust by someone I talked on the phone in the last six months countless times laughing like before and making jokes comes as a very heavy blow. I thought Jens was my friend. More...

GENGHIS TRON, fresh off the heels of a North American tour alongside CONVERGE and THE RED CHORD, are set to embark on their first European headlining tour in support of the recently released Board Up The House. This two-week tour begins Friday, May 9th, in the United Kingdom and includes support from NACHTMYSTIUM. The tour will also include a performance at the Noise Festival in Paris, France for GENGHIS TRON. A listing of GENGHIS TRON tour dates follows.

Additionally, GENGHIS TRON has recently completed work on a brand new video for Board Up The House track "Things Don't Look Good". The video is expected to make its world premiere imminently.

Acclaimed experimental metallers Meshuggah will be heading down under this October. Thus far only show has been confirmed which will take place on October 15th at Palace Theatre in Melbourne. More shows will be announced soon.

"We are gearing up to headline the Jäger tour and we're VERY excited to get back out in the states and play for everyone.

Please keep in mind this will probably be OUR LAST TOUR IN 2008. We really want to go work on a new studio album and we plan on taking most of the end of the year off besides Stillborn Fest which will still be December 26th - 30th like it has been for the last 7 years!"

Following intense and very constructive discussions, Steamhammer/SPV have announced their future collaboration with Swedish dark melodic metal act, EVERGREY. The deal includes not only the group's brand-new studio album, "Torn", which will arrive at the stores at the beginning of September, but also EVERGREY's complete back catalogue. EVERGREY mastermind Tom S. Englund is looking forward to a productive cooperation with Steamhammer, explaining: "After long and intense negotiations, we feel that we have arrived at optimum conditions for everybody involved. We are confident that EVERGREY will continue to grow artistically under the terms of this contract, that SPV will enjoy our cooperation and – this is definitely the most important aspect - that our fans will thoroughly benefit from the new deal."

The first stage of this ambitious target will see the release of EVERGREY's new studio album, "Torn", at the beginning of September, featuring eleven compositions, described by Englund as a "modern mix of In Search Of Truth and Recreation Day". "The tracks are all guitar-oriented and very atmospheric. They have exactly the sound that our fans expect from us." According to Englund, the slightly more experimental direction of EVERGREY's previous release, "Monday Morning Apocalypse", has given way again to old strengths and virtues. "Two years ago we needed an album with a slightly different approach and an expensive producer, just to find out how that sort of thing works. It was the right album at the time, but now we have returned to our typical trademarks." This is one of the reasons why the tracks on "Torn" were self-produced by Englund together with drummer Jonas Ekdahl. In addition, the band has a new bassist, Fredrik Larsson having been replaced by former STRATOVARIUS musician Jari Kainulainen.

Since the band arrived on the scene in 1998, EVERGREY have brought out six studio albums and one live cut. All of them made the top 20 in their native Sweden and the last two made the top 10 (no. 6 and 3, respectively). On top of that, their DVD was number 1 for four weeks and nominated for a Grammy in Sweden. The band has toured around the globe several times, together with IN FLAMES, NEVERMORE, THROWDOWN, ARCH ENEMY, CHILDREN OF BODOM and ICED EARTH, among others. Along with "Torn", their new contract with Steamhammer/SPV includes the band's complete back catalogue, so top-quality reissues featuring a selection of bonus tracks are likely in future. "There is so much additional material for each album that we could theoretically re-release it on an extra DVD. Whatever we manage to do - premium reissues are certainly a possibility."